The first step in defining Personal Health Freedom, is to define HEALTH. On July 2, 2010, I published a definition of the hierarchy of health and the primary and secondary disciplines of health. This blog and the associated diagram gives a powerful, clear definition of health - as opposed to 'not sick'. Most current definitions of health are very poor, especially when used to measure the health of individuals. For example, Google Dictionary defines health as "The state of being free from illness or injury" (March 11, 2011). This definition is totally useless for "measuring the health" of an individual. Is everyone who is not 'free from illness or injury' - unhealthy? I think not! We have very effective tools to measure illness. We need powerful tools to measure health.

Freedoms are complex and difficult to define. The post A Horse's Tale - Health Rights clarifies the distinction between 'fundamental rights' and 'rights that are associated with responsibilities'. I believe that the right to pursue health is a fundamental right - directly linked to the rights of life and liberty. What is life without health? I believe we have a right to survive, and a right to take actions that affect our health - and I believe the Universal Declaration of Human rights should declare these rights.

Most discussions of health are actually discussions of 'illness', or lack of illness. 'Health care' generally means 'illness care'. Health food stores sell foods that treat illnesses. Our current studies of illness are almost exclusively from a medical perspective. They tend to be ad hoc, energetically targeted to address individual illnesses. This is appropriate when illness is present, but we need a wider understanding of illness as it relates to health. As in the quote "It's hard to think about draining the swamp when you are up to your ass in alligators." - it is difficult to think about health, when our 'health systems' are immersed in treatments of illness. The post Primary Causes of Illness clearly defines illness and the causes of 'primary illnesses'. Stepping back to understand the big picture is the first step to draining the swamp.

PERSONAL

This blog is about people and personal health. Many concepts related to health can be extended to other animals but the focus of the blog is on people. I have deliberately avoided the term 'individual' as in 'individual rights', partly because I believe the term 'individual' is used to assign responsibilities and rights that are not 'personal'.

HEALTH vs MEDICINE - points of view

As I create new blog postings I am starting to realize that the primary difference between HEALTH systems and MEDICINE based systems is their point of view. We almost never look at health and medicine from a health viewpoint - and almost always use a 'medical viewpoint'. My blog views from a health viewpoint - which gives a very different perspective. As a result, some things are very easily seen or understood, things that are invisible from a medical perspective.

Once we start to understand the two points of view, it is easy to see why formalized medical practitioners and alternative health practitioners are often at odds. It is not necessarily that one is right - and the other is wrong, simply that they are looking at the same thing, generally a specific condition or illness, from different points of view. I'm proposing a new point of view which may provide some illumination and will likely provide consternation, for both practitioners.

DEFINITIONS

As I create posts I find a need for distinctions, or words that are specifically related to health. As I discover the need for these words, I sometimes create new words (eg. sfoods: supplemented foods) and sometimes define well known words from a 'health view'. I have created a dictionary of Personal Health Freedom and will update it as I learn more.

QUESTIONS?

At present, and for the foreseeable future the blog is more about asking questions than about providing answers. The most pressing question is "how can we measure health?". If we can measure health effectively, we can find answers to more difficult questions. eg. Does a specific treatment 'improve health' or 'decrease health'. At present treatments tend to be measured on two dimensions: does it have the desired effect (reduce pain, reduce inflammation, reduce symptoms, increase healing, etc) and are the adverse effects (commonly called 'side effects') a worthwhile exchange for the benefit. When we look from a health view, the simpler question: does this treatment improve overall health? provides a powerful alternative viewpoint.

I believe there are many important questions that can only be answered if we view them from a HEALTH paradigm. Some examples:

How can we measure health? How can we effectively measure nutritional health, cellular health, tissue health, organ health, mental health, etc.?
When can illness be cured?
When can illness not be cured?
Is it better to 'cure' illness, or to 'heal' illness?
Do drugs improve health?
What nutrients are essential to health?
What are the optimal levels of consumption of these nutrients?
How should I tailor my consumption to avoid interference between healthy nutrients.
What exists in the space, which I call the 'wide grey', between health and specific illness.